PM announces relief for earthquake affected

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has announced Rs600, 000 for families of dead and Rs200, 000 for injured in the earthquake, Waqt News reported. He was addressing a press conference.

“Rs 200,000 will be given to the families with total damaged houses while Rs100, 000 will be granted to houses with partial damaged,” he announced. “Both federal and provincial governments will pay 50% share each," he added.

He further stated that this procedure of handing over the money to the affected people will start from Monday and will be completed by next Thursday. “Till Monday the verification process will be conducted by the authorities so the money can reach the deserving,” he told the press.

Further explaining the procedure he said that the payment will be made via cheques through local banks. “The cheques can be en-cashed from those banks on the spot,” he claimed.

While discussing the death toll the PM stated that 208 casualties in Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa (KP) and 29 in Federal Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) are recorded. “The earthquake was severe but thanks to the Almighty the destruction is much less than the 2005 quake,” he said.

The prime minister thanked all the institutions including National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Army, NGOs and KP provincial authorities. “Thank You Raheel Sharif for the rapid response by the army,” he specifically mentioned.